MA with Certification

Master of Arts in Art and Art Education with Initial Teacher Certification

Degree DescriptionThis program is designed primarily for
individuals with undergraduate or graduate degrees in studio art, art
history or museum studies who wish to gain Initial Art Teacher’s
Certification (PK-12). Work towards certification entails the equivalent
of one year and one summer of structured coursework, followed by two
terms (Fall and Spring) of a full-time supervised practicum (student
teaching). Students may complete the coursework component of this
program on a full-time or part-time basis. However, the supervised
practicum or student teaching demands one year of full-time commitment,
starting in the fall.

In order to receive an MA degree with Initial Teacher Certification, students must complete 40 credit points at Teachers College.

Course Work – 34 credit pointsStudent Teaching – 6 credit points

Required Courses

Art Education Required Courses

Breadth (“Out of Program”) Required CoursesStudents
in the MA with Initial Teacher Certification must fulfill TC’s breadth
requirement by taking three (3) courses offered outside Art and Art
Education at Teachers College. Any course that does not start with
A&HA qualifies as an “out of program” or “breadth” course. Students working to earn certification must earn 3 credits in a Special Education
course (required by the NYS DOE for certification) as part of the
breadth requirement. The other two breadth courses must be taken for
two (2) credit points.

Supervised Practicum (Student Teaching): 6 credit pointsStudent teaching entails two terms of full-time supervised practicums
in school settings--one secondary and one elementary. Each term of
student teaching is worth 3 credit points.

Students should plan to student teach during the last two terms of study for the degree.

The first term of student teaching must occur in the fall and the second in the spring (no exceptions).

In order to begin student teaching, students must have completed
and received a grade for all required courses and a total of 34 credit
points.

The student teacher advisor will meet with students prior to their
first practicum and work with them to determine their placement.

All student teachers must complete Certificate of Equivalency forms
for 9 credits each term. Advisors will guide students through this
simple administrative process.

During the two terms of student teaching, students will meet weekly as a group in a seminar held at TC.

The practicum requires full commitment. Therefore, no courses may
be taken during student teaching (exceptions may be made for Studio
courses and the 1 credit point Conversations Weekend Workshop).

Course Load And Program TimelineStudents must plan their
schedules carefully, as some courses are only offered in the Fall (F)
term and others in the Spring (Sp). Some courses are offered in Summer
(Su) session A and/or B as well. A full-time course load at TC is
considered to be 12 credit points but most financial aid packages accept
6-credit point course loads (3 credit-points during student teaching).

Students attending TC full time will need to complete one Fall term,
one Spring term, and at least one Summer session before they student
teach. (There are two sessions each Summer: Summer A and Summer B. There
is a 9-credit point maximum course load per summer session).

Following is a sample timeline (individuals’ timelines are likely to vary):

There is a five-year limit for part-time students to complete the MA
degree requirements. Part-time students should select courses in
consultation with their advisors.

Certification InformationTo gain Initial Teacher Certification students must adhere to the following:

In accordance with the New York State Education Department (NYSED),
and as outlined by the Office of Teaching Initiatives (OTI), all
students seeking Teacher Certification, must have
completed (3) three undergraduate credits in English, Math, Science,
History and Foreign Language. If you have not completed these courses as
part of your undergraduate education, you may do so while in the Program, or you may choose to take a College Level Examination Program
test (CLEP) in addition to your program coursework. (If you have
foreign language proficiency, as a result of personal experience, you
will be required to document this proficiency through a language CLEP
test or through being tested by a Language Professor working within a
Language Department of an accredited college or university). For more
information on meeting the Liberal Arts & Sciences Core
requirements, please contact the Office of Teacher Education (OTE) at
Teachers College.

Complete all degree requirements, including two terms of student teaching and 3 credits in Special Education.

Students will receive all pertinent information to complete items 1-5 in the Supervised Teaching seminar.

Child Abuse and Violence DetectionThe Child Abuse and
Violence Detection tutorials are for no credit points. These tutorials
may be accessed at www.nysed.gov. Students may complete this work
anytime while at TC, and should make sure to print out all relevant
certificates and other documentation.

NCATE RequirementsTo satisfy NCATE standards, students in
the Teacher Certification program are expected to complete a series of
assessments during the course of their program. All of these assessments
are built into required courses and are thus part of students’ coursework. Art Education NCATE assessments are:

Artistic Development of Adolescents: Interview Paper and Sequential Lesson Paper

Pre-RequisitesStudents who do not have enough studio
credits prior to admission to TC may be required to complete between 3
and 12 credits of studio coursework before graduation, in addition to
the three studio courses required for the Program. When this is the
case, students will receive a letter outlining this requirement at the
time of admission.

Students can fulfill pre-requisite courses before or during their
time at TC. The courses can be taken at TC but may also be taken at
other credited institutions, at the undergraduate or graduate level.
Please note that continuing education credits do not fulfill this
requirement. (Schools in the CUNY and SUNY system, as well as in the
State University of New Jersey are popular choices for studio
pre-requisites).

Transfer CreditCredit points from other institutions may not be transferred into the MA program in Art Education.

Statement on Satisfactory ProgressStudents are expected to
make satisfactory progress toward the completion of degree
requirements. Program faculty will review each student’s progress
annually. Where there are concerns about satisfactory progress, students
will be informed by the Program faculty. If a student is performing
below expectations he/she may be required to complete additional course
work. The Program will provide a plan and timeline for remediation so
students know the expectations for their continuance in the program. If
satisfactory progress is not maintained a student may be dismissed from
the program.